Faculty News
for May, 2012
May 13, 2012
Professor Richard Painter was quoted in a Wall Street Journal article on a former high-ranking Justice Department official who, in private law practice, is seeking to represent a defendant in a criminal case coming out of an investigation that was conducted, in part, under his supervision at the Justice Department. The article stated: "Richard W. Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor who served in the White House as chief ethics lawyer to President George W. Bush, said federal ethics law can be ambiguous and disagreements about a former public servant's post-government work aren't uncommon. 'But most former senior government officials do not go so close to the gray area,' he says. 'If the Justice Department says you'd be violating a criminal statute, most people back off at that point.'"
Read Richard W. Painter's Faculty Profile
May 11, 2012
Professor Jane Kirtley was quoted in a Pioneer Press story about Amy Senser's counsel subpoenaing KARE-11 TV's raw footage of interviews with jury members. Kirtley discussed how the Minnesota state journalists' shield law explicitly protects unpublished or unbroadcast materials unless they are "clearly relevant" to a gross misdemeanor or felony. Although Senser's lawyer has not indicated the object of the subpoena, given that Senser has already been convicted, and absent some showing of juror misconduct, she said "serving a subpoena at this stage is premature."
Read Jane Kirtley's Faculty Profile
May 10, 2012
Professor Dale Carpenter was quoted in a MinnPost article entitled "Obama Backing Gay Marriage: 'A Historic Moment'." The article quoted him saying: "It is an incredibly important day for advocates of equality for committed same-sex couples," said Dale Carpenter, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. "To have the executive branch behind full equality is a powerful thing."
Carpenter was also quoted in The Guardian in an article entitled "How Barack Obama's Gay Marriage Move Changes the Presidential Race." The article quoted him saying: "Ten years ago people would have said this was a radical idea. Now this event will be one of the milestones in the history of the struggle. I did not expect it."
Read Dale Carpenter's Faculty Profile
May 8, 2012
Professor Amy Monahan was quoted on CNBC.com regarding public pension reform efforts and the lawsuits that have resulted, noting that it is difficult to determine in advance which reforms will be legally successful. The uncertainty, Monahan said, stems from the legal standard used in many states that permits plan changes only where they are the "least drastic" method of achieving an important public policy goal.
Read Amy B. Monahan's Faculty Profile
May 8, 2012
May 8, 2012
Professor Ralph Hall presented at a Morgan Stanley medical device summit. Hall spoke to medical device investors, executives, and analysts on the impact of the upcoming elections, Supreme Court ruling on health care, and pending legislation on the medical device industry.
Read Ralph Hall's Faculty Profile
May 4, 2012
Professor Jane Kirtley moderated a panel, "Toto, We're Not in Kansas ... But Google Is!: What happens when technology, big business, and individual rights collide," at the 25th Annual Media and the Law Seminar in Kansas City, Missouri, sponsored by the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association Media Law Committee and the University of Kansas School of Law. The panel discussed Google's plans to install ultra-high speed Internet access in Kansas City, Kansas, as its first "city of the future," and the implications for personal privacy and the traditional news media.
Read Jane Kirtley's Faculty Profile
May 4, 2012
Professor George Sheets has published Casebook on Roman Property Law (Oxford University Press, New York, 2012), a translation with translator's introduction, supplementary notes, and glossary, of Casebook zum römischen Sachenrecht, 10th ed., by H. Hausmaninger and R. Gamauf (MANZ, Wien, 2003). Accompanying the book is a website entitled "Common Law Comparisons with Roman Property Law," available at www.oup.com/us/romanpropertylaw.
Read George Sheets's Faculty Profile
May 3, 2012
Professor Nancy Cook led a workshop entitled "Community, Collaboration, and Narrative" at the Association of American Law School's Conference on Clinical Legal Education. Cook's workshop focused on the intersections of scholarship, teaching, and practice
Read Nancy Cook's Faculty Profile
May 2, 2012
Professor Bernard M. Levinson will present a free public lecture entitled, "'You Must Not Add Anything To What I Command You': Paradoxes of Canon And Authorship in Ancient Israel." Levinson's lecture will address how Israel, having a tradition of prestigious or authoritative texts, dealt with the problem of literary and legal innovation. By comparing scribal practices in ancient Mesopotamian cuneiform law, he will show how ancient Israel's development of the idea of divine revelation of law that might have been expected to impede legal revision or amendment tolerated modification through exegetical innovation.
Read Bernard M. Levinson's Faculty Profile
May 1, 2012
Professor Oren Gross' paper "When Machines Kill: Criminal Responsibility for International Crimes Committed by Lethal Autonomous Robots" was cited in an article on OpEdNews.com entitled "The Next Drones: Autonomous Robotic Warriors."
Read Oren Gross's Faculty Profile
May 1, 2012
Professors Michele Goodwin and Carl Warren spoke on Access Minnesota for a two-part program entitled "Racial Inequality in the American Justice System." Access Minnesota is public affairs program that airs weekly on radio and monthly on TV. The first part of the program will air May 5-6, and the second part will air on May 12-13.
Read Michele Goodwin's Faculty Profile
Read Carl Warren's Faculty Profile
May 1, 2012
Professor Amy Monahan was quoted in a Bloomberg Businessweek article examining changes that the city of Providence, Rhode Island is making to the pension benefits of city workers and retirees. Monahan explained that the types of changes being made by the city are somewhat unusual, both because they affect benefits that have already been earned, and also because they unilaterally change the terms of the city's labor contracts.
Read Amy B. Monahan's Faculty Profile
